Last U.S. World War I Veteran Dies

[redhawk23]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/02/27/wwi.veteran.death/index.html?hpt=T2

Didn't know where to put this, but Politics seemed as good of a place as any.

Buckles at age 16

Frank Buckles, the last surviving U.S. veteran of the first world war has died at the age of 110. I just thought this was interesting. As far as people who actually served, WWI has passed out of living memory, and it won't be long until that time in general is lost to history. We as a country I have found don't really pay much attention to that war, pop culturally not at all. Even in school we litterally skipped over it. I didn't learn about WWI until my junior year of high scthool. This is despite starting to learn about WWII in about the 5th grade. This never made much sense to me, as the aftermath of WWI largely allowed WWII to happen.

 

[SuperFerret]

World War II has a much more direct fallout with regards to how the modern world formed (and on the pop culture side, it helps that we got more than one legitimate real life supervillians from WWII). World War I, by comparison, is just the appetizer and not much of it needs to be explored to set up WWII.

 

[Pink Ranger]

World War I started in 1914 but didn't really end IMO until 1989, so it's lessons there are worth remembering.

 

[Kelly]

Wow, quite a man.....

 

[Spidey-Bat]

It's sad to see so few veterans of WWI left.

World War II has a much more direct fallout with regards to how the modern world formed

Nope. The world map drawn in 1919 is very similar to that of today. It ended 4 empires, brought a rise to communism, led to the problems in the Middle-East that exist to this day, and put America on the global stage.

 

[redhawk23]

World War II has a much more direct fallout with regards to how the modern world formed (and on the pop culture side, it helps that we got more than one legitimate real life supervillians from WWII). World War I, by comparison, is just the appetizer and not much of it needs to be explored to set up WWII.

WWII could not have happenned without WWI. The decisions made towards what to with Germany (i.e. completely blaming them for everything and treating them like they lost the war despite neither side ever actually surrendering.) decimated their economy and created the environment that allowed the Nazi's to come to power. A lot of military technology and tactics were also developed then. Theres a reason why it was called the "Great War." No one had ever seen warfare of that type, and no one imagined that it would ever be topped in their lifetimes, much les 2 decades later. Some fairly rediculous decisions were made in the aftermath of that war that set the stage for its even more destructive successor. It was in response to these failings that the decisions after WWII were made, which of course had their own reverberating effects.

 

[SuperFerret]

Which is basically what I said. A history book need not spend more of a page to elaborate on that paragraph you just wrote in order to adequately set up World War II.

 

[redhawk23]

that can be done with basically any historical event though if all you're using it for is the set up for something else.

 

[SuperFerret]

And again, the most impact that WWI had was causing WWII. Why shouldn't it be the appetizer that it is?

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

The fact you think World War One is nothing more than a footnote is just insane and shows how little you know about that period.

World War One set up the League of Nations, which was the precursor to the United Nations, the first world-body that came together and would try and find solutions unilaterally instead of individually. Basically the first world-order.

World War One saw the destruction of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of the communist takeover of czarist Russia.

World War One ended with the treaty of versailles which completely defanged Germany and led to the embittered rise of the National Socialist party (pssst... that's the Nazi party).

World War One revolutionized modern warfare. In the beginning it was called a "20th century war fought with 19th century tactics". World War One showed brutally how antiquated and ineffectual trench warfare was and forced commanders to be more innovative in their strategies. It was also the first war fought with planes, tanks, flame-throwers and chemical gas.

World War One was the first war to really introduce America on to the world-stage. Americans fought in Europe for the first time and in a war that had little to do with their interests (except indirectly) and more to do with their need for global influence.

In World War One, sixteen million people died. That's more than the entire population of some countries.

In short, you don't know what you're talking about. Just because you haven't learned much about World War One (blame your school) doesn't mean it wasn't monumentally important and transformational.

 

[SuperFerret]

Just forget it.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Yes. You should.

 

[SuperFerret]

Aside from the League of Nations thing and the fall of the Ottoman Empire, I knew all that offhand. I'm just saying that they're not as big of an impact as what followed particularly the stuff about that National Socialist party (pssst... that the more important World War II).

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

You didn't know about the League of Nations and the fall of the Ottoman empire? You basically just proved my point. You dismiss something as epic as World War I and I'm kind of at a loss as to what to tell you. Without World War I, there would be no World War II. Is that important enough for you? That's a rhetorical question, because this is going nowhere.

 

[SuperFerret]

I didn't know about it offhand. And you're missing my point. Try reading my posts.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Aside from the League of Nations thing and the fall of the Ottoman Empire, I knew all that offhand. I'm just saying that they're not as big of an impact as what followed particularly the stuff about that National Socialist party (pssst... that the more important World War II).

The rise of Nazi Germany didn't happen in a vacuum during the inter-war period. After all, Nazi Germany was called the Third Reich, what do you think was the Second?

You seem to have glossed over my post, but perhaps the biggest issue in the world today, the unrest in the Middle-East, was created from the aftermath of World War I.

I didn't know about it offhand. And you're missing my point. Try reading my posts.

I have and they all indicate you have a poor understanding of the topic.

 

[SuperFerret]

And? I still think that World War I gets enough time in most history classes. If one is so inclined, there is more than enough information to teach an entire class on World War I, of which I'm sure there are many.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

And? I still think that World War I gets enough time in most history classes. If one is so inclined, there is more than enough information to teach an entire class on World War I, of which I'm sure there are many.

Only if you subscribe to the American philosophy of "If we didn't win it, it's not important."

 

[SuperFerret]

Nah, I subscribe to the philosophy of "My field of interest doesn't need a deep knowledge of international politics, so it's not important to me".

General education is just that, general information that is given to students early on, which gives them a taste of each subject and can pique their interest in them. If the student so desires, then they can take it upon themselves to pursue such studies on their own in specialized educational programs.


Also, I find it mildly insulting whenever someone tries to insinuate that national patriotism is a motivation of mine.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Nah, I subscribe to the philosophy of "My field of interest doesn't need a deep knowledge of international politics, so it's not important to me".

Then it isn't much of a field of interest if you're not willing to learn all the details about it because you think they're unimportant.

General education is just that, general information that is given to students early on, which gives them a taste of each subject and can pique their interest in them. If the student so desires, then they can take it upon themselves to pursue such studies on their own in specialized educational programs.

That doesn't mean the amount of time a topic receives in general education (which is garbage, btw. School textbooks aren't worth the paper they're printed on) is related to how important it is.

Also, I find it mildly insulting whenever someone tries to insinuate that national patriotism is a motivation of mine.

It's more ignorance than patriotism.


I'm not going to bother anymore since you don't know what you're talking about and are just ignoring everyone's points.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

SuperFerret... Basically everything that happened as a result of WWII happened as a result of WWI. Because WWI caused WWII. So your whole back-and-forth about which is more important is moot.

 

[SuperFerret]

And World War II had a more pronounced and relevant effect than World War I. That's what I'm trying to say.

I also fail to see how any knowledge of world history has any weight when my field of study is veterinary medicine.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

And World War II had a more pronounced and relevant effect than World War I. That's what I'm trying to say.

You've never said anything more than World War II had a greater impact, never made any argument to defend it.

I also fail to see how any knowledge of world history has any weight when my field of study is veterinary medicine.

It doesn't. But if you're going to debate it, you should know what you're talking about.

 

[SuperFerret]

I know enough to know that I don't need to know more.

 

[LOBO3315a]

WWI Saw the end of the mounted cavalry in widespread use. There's your tie in to veterinary medicine.